Exclusively for My Friends, Vol. 4: My Favorite Instrument

Exclusively for My Friends, Vol. 4: My Favorite Instrument Artist: Oscar Peterson
Label: Polygram Records
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 042282184320
EAN: 0042282184320
ASIN: B0000046TT


Release Date: 1990-11-27

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Listmania:

  1. VOLUME II {JAZZ LISTENING SUGGESTIONS } 'IN THE POCKET'

Tracks:

  1. Someone To Watch Over Me
  2. Perdido
  3. Body And Soul
  4. Who Can I Turn To
  5. Bye, Bye Blackbird
  6. I Should Care
  7. Lulu's Back In Town
  8. Little Girl Blue
  9. Take Tha A-Train

Similar Items:

  1. Solo
  2. Oscar Peterson Plays the Cole Porter Songbook
  3. Oscar Peterson Plays The George Gershwin Songbook
  4. Night Train
  5. Tracks

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars OSCAR, OSCAR. HOW COULD YOU?.......2005-01-16

I am usually in Oscar Peterson's corner. Peterson is an unjustly dismissed jazz pianist. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, Peterson is often regarded as something of a "fake" in many jazz circles. It all has something to do with Peterson's rejection of the "progressive" camp among jazz musicians. He is definitely not in the "art for my sake" school of thought. Instead he appeals to the average American listener and uses the "Great American Songbook" as his jazz hymnal.

Still, I don't like this CD very much. The conception is for Peterson to play as if he were in his living room and a bunch of friends came over to listen. This is all fine and good; but where it breaks down is Peterson felt compelled to add a little "razzle-dazzle" to each of these songs. In other words, he's a bit of a "showoff". And this ruins it for me.

Contrary to what my grade school music teacher taught me, I do not think the piano is the most wonderful musical instrument ever made. Nor do I think angels somehow delivered a piano from heaven to mankind in the middle of the eighteenth century Promethean style. For all its wonderful capabilities, the piano has limitations. It also has a singular ability to get on people's nerves as almost pianists can sound like they are "chopping" out notes. And don't get me started if the piano is out of tune.

Therefore, special care has to be taken if the piano is to be played alone. A piano can sound like a modest young lady or a brazen hussy. A more modest demeanor goes a long way.

5 out of 5 stars on this earth in my lifetime!.......2004-02-04

I,ve been listening to jazz and particularly piano since early childhood in the 30's. There were records in the house, and my folks took me along sometimes. One Pianist said, The kid really LISTENS! (and Fats Waller once kissed my mothers' hand).I had lots of Tatum in my teens. Then, I heard Oscar Peterson on the car radio , playing Tenderly. He has been my hero ever since. His powress is by now taken for granted. Listen to the feeling he expresses on the first track. No one plays the piano with more emotion. The number of times i have heard him in person have been peaks in my life; he dazzles, he swings, he shows off, he's lyrical, and he can really make you feel. i agree he is the greatest ever any way you listen.

5 out of 5 stars The greatest jazz piano album? It's more than that!.......2002-07-16

"I have believed for many years that Oscar Peterson is not only the greatest pianist in jazz today, but the greatest it has ever known. The style is drawn from many sources including Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, George Shearing, James P. Johnson, and others. Oscar's awareness of jazz history is so great that I doubt there's anything in the tradition of jazz piano that he hasn't encompassed in his work. Oscar is the great eclectic of jazz piano. Bach was a great eclectic. History cares less who did something first than it does who did it best. Oscar does all the things his predecessors did, but better.

Consider the Tatum influence. Oscar plays the Tatum runs as fast as Tatum did. And he plays them with more power, more muscle, and above all with more swing. Oscar's dynamic sense is greater than Tatum's . . . . despite the musical wonder of Tatum's playing, his work, for me, lacked the emotional depth and stylistic range that Oscar displays here." (From the Gene Lees' album liner notes of 1968.)

In its July 2002 death notice for Ray Brown, Time Magazine noted that Oscar Peterson's trio (with Brown) is generally considered the greatest in jazz history. Not surprisingly then Oscar's rare solo recordings are easily overlooked within the huge discography of Oscar's trio recordings most of them still in print (Amazon.com lists 210 of these).

Peterson's only other solo album "Tracks" with its odd assortment of lesser standards and seldom-played tunes can't help but be eclipsed by the offerings here on "My Favorite Instrument." And until something better comes along, this for many of us will remain our favorite, solo, piano recording.

In fact, one could make the case that everything about this CD is the best: The pianist, obviously, is at the very peak of his powers---one minute swinging as only he can and then, alternately, with his sublime pedal work, launching into the most heart-rendingly beautiful, pensively-shaded variations on great standards, most notably Little Girl Blue. Oscar's take on the Dick Rodgers masterpiece must surely be as definitive for pianists as Sinatra's version of the song is for vocalists. As Gene Lees put it: "If I were told that I could have only one track out of the album, and all the rest would be destroyed, this is the one I'd select." You can almost feel Peterson's radiant enthusiasm as he delves into old favorites on his newly-discovered piano-of-choice----the largest Bosendorfer then made in Germany.

The sound engineering by Hans G. Brunner-Schwer (a German who would eventually head his own record companies) is astonishing, even by today's standards. It's also a testament to German recording equipment, including German microphones (various) that gradually took over every major recording studio on the planet in the intervening 30 years. (Sinatra always insisted on using a Neumann; enough said.) Still, it makes you wonder about American recording studio engineering in the 1960s; by comparison, all our favorite Bill Evans albums sound like products of the 50s.

One also wonders---is this as good as solo piano will ever get? Even as incremental improvements keep coming on the technical side: We notice Amazon.com now offers a Japanese, audiophile version of "My Favorite Instrument" enhanced by 25-bit technology. (A question for the experts with access to jillion dollar stereos: Will the rest of us be able to detect the difference on our portable CD players?)

Any superlatives attached to this CD are unlikely to top the following quote-within-a-quote from the conclusion of Gene Lees' original liner notes: "I am tempted to say this is the greatest jazz piano album ever made. And maybe it is. But it's more than that. Said one fascinated musician on hearing it, 'This surpasses jazz.' So it does."

5 out of 5 stars oscar finally plays some solos!!!!.......2002-06-22

Before I talk about the CD, I might as well say that the sound quality is better than I have ever heard on any other solo piano CD (i have about 30 others). It is amazingly clear.

Now- to Oscar's playing:
I find Oscar's solo style very exciting, although on his other solo albums "Tracks" and "Solo: Live", he often plays meaningless technical [stuff.] That does not, however, apply to this CD. For example- PERDIDO really swings all the way, with his left hand playing the solid, rythmic bass line. Oscar gets heavy in to some great powerful block chords and then he goes into some stride choruses. He uses great dynamics and development! This is the type of excitement which solo pianists rarely achieve. Opposite from Perdido is LITTLE GIRL BLUE, which is complete lyrical beauty. You can hear Oscar's nice touch and sensitive harmonies. Overall, this is a very gentle treatment to this tune, which most people might not think Oscar capable of; but he certainly proves us wrong. The other 7 songs which are on this album are all standards as well- a very nice balance of ballads and swingers. This is a truly marvelous album which all Oscar fans should have as well as anyone wanting to hear solo piano. My only regret is that Oscar recorded none of his own compositions...

5 out of 5 stars Proof Positive of the World's Greatest Jazz Pianist.......1998-07-26

After much deliberation and hours of listening, I have determined that Oscar Peterson is the greatest jazz pianist of all time. Many will argue for Art Tatum but they have not heard this album. Peterson is always lyrical, even in the fastest scalar passages. His imagination is boundless and his ideas as fresh as they are complex. The only problem with this album is its brevity. It weighs in at a meager 43 minutes. No matter, you can listen to this one a dozen times and not get tired of it.

Music CD:

  1. Ezz-Thetics ~ George Russell
  2. Four! Hampton Hawes!!!! ~ Hampton Hawes
  3. All Through the Night ~ Bill Charlap
  4. The Best of Sidney Bechet ~ Sidney Bechet
  5. Big Band Favorites of Sammy Nestico ~ Various Artists
  6. Coltrane Plays the Blues ~ John Coltrane
  7. America's Sweetheart of Song ~ Ruth Etting
  8. The Dukes of Dixieland at Disneyland/Struttin' at the World's Fair ~ Dukes of Dixieland
  9. WNUA 95.5 - Smooth Jazz Sampler 16 ~ Various Artists
  10. Peacemaker ~ Clarence Clemons

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Let's Get Naked ~ Highland Place Mobsters

Poco ~ Poco

U Ready Man ~ Hobex

African Force ~ Ginger Baker

Sing The Hits Of The Doors & The Byrds (Karaoke)

Time for Leaving ~ Steel

Blue Suede Shoes: 50th Anniversary ~ Carl Perkins

Love Trip ~ Tamiko Jones

Mystikal ~ Mystikal

No No No ~ Jae Millz